What if the company interviewing you is not a good candidate for you?
Soraya Mohamedi · Employment Area Coordinator, Ubuntu Canarias · 9 min read
We prepare to show that we are the right person for a company, but do we ask ourselves whether that company is right for us?
Recently I read a reflection on what some companies are really looking for in a candidate. Not necessarily someone with long experience, but a good person: motivated, innovative, able to set prejudices aside and to identify and strengthen other people’s strengths.
And I think it is a great idea. Really.
But reading it, another question came to mind: what if the company interviewing you does not have the very qualities it says it is looking for in you?
Because we talk a lot about what a good candidate should be like, how they should prepare for an interview, what skills they should show, how to communicate their strengths and what attitude to keep in order to get the job. We teach them to sell their talent, show enthusiasm, be flexible and convince the person in front of them that they deserve a chance.
But who assesses the company?
Who asks whether the interviewer can recognise talent beyond a CV? Whether they can listen without judging? Whether they are willing to take on someone who might bring ideas different from their own? Whether they can identify strengths or, on the contrary, simply look for profiles that fit a description written in advance?
Because a job interview should not only be an exam taken by someone who needs a job. It is also a chance to get to know an organisation’s culture, its real values, how it handles differences and the place it gives to the people who are part of it.
And here there is a contradiction worth looking at.
1. Do we know how to recognise talent?
We say we are looking for talent, but do we know how to recognise it when it is in front of us?
- A company may say it is looking for innovative people, but feel uncomfortable when a candidate questions a way of working that has not been reviewed for years.
- It may say it values initiative, but prefer someone who never contradicts their manager.
- It may claim to be committed to diversity, but rule someone out because they do not match the mental image it had of the ideal candidate.
- It may talk about individual strengths and yet spend the whole interview pointing out what is missing: the experience the person does not have, the sector they have not worked in, the tool they have not yet mastered or the career path they did not follow in the conventional way.
Of course, a company has the right to set requirements. Some jobs require technical knowledge, qualifications, specific experience or skills that cannot be improvised. Hiring responsibly also means recognising what the job needs and which abilities are essential.
But assessing the skills that are needed is one thing; confusing a different career path with a lack of ability is quite another.
Experience is important, but it does not always tell the whole story. A CV tells us what a person has done; it does not fully show how they think, how they learn, how they deal with difficulties, how they treat others or what they could contribute if they found the right environment.
There are people with an extraordinary track record who do not know how to work in a team. Others have less experience but a huge capacity to learn, connect ideas, solve problems and help those around them grow.
None of these profiles should be judged through prejudice. Every application deserves an honest assessment, linked to the real demands of the job and to the potential for development.
The problem is not that a company has selection criteria. The problem is when it confuses its preferences with objective criteria and ends up rejecting talent because it does not know how to recognise it.
2. The interview also says something about the interviewer
An interview does not only let us show who we are. It also gives us information about the organisation we might join.
Notice how you are welcomed. Listen to the questions you are asked. Pay attention to whether there is interest in understanding your path or whether the conversation turns into a search for flaws. Check whether you can explain your career decisions without feeling that you have to justify every step of your life.
- Do they ask you what you have learned from your experiences? What you can bring to the team? How you face challenges? What strengths you would like to develop?
- Or do they just examine what you lack, compare your profile with a rigid template and check whether you give exactly the answer they expect to hear?
How they talk about the people who already work there also matters. If they describe their teams with contempt, present constant pressure as a virtue or justify disrespect as an unavoidable part of the job, it is worth paying attention.
A particularly revealing question could be: “Could you give me an example of how the company has helped someone develop a strength or grow professionally?”
The answer, and the way it is given, can tell us more than a presentation full of words like innovation, commitment or talent.
Of course, a short interview does not let us fully know a company. An interviewer may be nervous, short of time or following a process they did not design. One unfortunate question does not, on its own, prove that the whole organisation is toxic either.
It is about noticing patterns, asking for examples and gathering information before drawing conclusions. Intuition can help us spot something that deserves attention, but it is better to check it against concrete facts.
3. The weight of need and the ability to decide
You are not just looking for a job. You are choosing the place where you will invest part of your life.
When we need work, especially if we are going through a period of economic or personal uncertainty, it is easy to feel that we cannot afford to choose. The priority is to get a chance. We want to show that we are good enough, avoid mistakes and make a good impression. And sometimes that need leads us to accept any conditions, play down warning signs or convince ourselves that we will sort out the problems once we are inside.
We do not always have the luxury of turning down an offer. Economic, family and personal circumstances matter, and it would be unfair to advise everyone to walk away from an opportunity without considering their situation.
But even when we need to work, we can keep part of our ability to decide: to ask, to observe, to find out and to weigh up the conditions we are accepting.
Because a job is not just about earning a salary. It also means giving time, energy, knowledge and attention to a place where we will spend an important part of our lives.
A workplace can help us grow, develop abilities we did not know we had and feel that our contribution makes sense. It can also wear us down if we constantly have to hide our ideas, defend our dignity or prove every day that we deserve to be there.
That is why, as well as asking ourselves “what can I bring to this company?”, perhaps we should ask:
“What can this company offer me so that I can also give my best?”
I am not talking about expecting an organisation to solve all our problems, motivate us constantly or adapt to every one of our preferences. Professional responsibility is shared. We must bring commitment, competence, respect and willingness to learn; the company must offer reasonable conditions, clear expectations and professional treatment.
The working relationship does not have to be a power struggle. It can be an agreement in which both sides contribute, learn and gain something valuable.
4. The danger of confusing humility with the need for approval
There is something else I think is important: sometimes we prepare people so much to pass an interview that we end up teaching them to seek approval instead of assessing whether there is a good fit.
We tell them they must show enthusiasm, be flexible, adapt, come across as confident and give the right answers. All of that can be useful. But what happens if, in the effort to be chosen, they stop asking themselves essential questions?
- What if they accept a culture in which they will not be able to express themselves freely as professionals?
- What if they hide their values in order to fit in?
- What if they see it as a personal flaw when a company does not recognise their abilities?
Not every rejection means we are not good enough. Sometimes we are simply not the profile that job needs. Other times, our strengths do not fit the way that organisation works. And in some cases, the selection process may be influenced by inappropriate criteria.
It is important to learn to tell these situations apart.
Not getting a job can be painful, but it is not an absolute measure of our worth. In the same way, getting it does not prove that we have chosen the right environment.
Selection should help find a compatible professional relationship, not decide who is worth more as a person.
And here it is worth remembering something: you do not need to prove you are perfect to deserve respectful treatment.
You may have things to improve, knowledge to acquire and experiences you have not yet had. That does not make you a bad candidate by definition. It makes you a person whose profile should be assessed honestly, taking into account what you can do and what you can learn.
5. Signs to assess the company
So how do we know whether a company is a good candidate for us? There is no foolproof formula, but we can pay attention to some signs:
- A company that really values people can usually explain what it expects from the job, how it will measure performance and what learning opportunities there are. It does not need to promise a perfect environment, but it should be able to talk honestly about its difficulties.
- An organisation looking for innovation should be willing to listen to different ideas, even if not all of them can be put into practice.
- One that talks about strengths should be able to explain how it identifies and develops them.
- One that defends respect should also show it when a person asks an uncomfortable question or admits that they have not yet mastered a skill.
On the other hand, it is worth stopping to think if, during the process, disrespect is treated as normal, doubts are ridiculed, deliberately vague answers are given about the conditions or availability is demanded that does not match what was advertised.
On their own, these are not definitive proof, but they are reasons to ask for clarification and to look at the whole picture.
And we can ask questions. There is no need to turn the interview into an interrogation or to become defensive. It is enough to remember that we are also there to decide. We can ask how new staff are supported, what the people who do well in the organisation have in common, how disagreements are handled or what opportunities there are to develop new skills.
Concrete answers are usually more revealing than slogans.
Conclusion: changing the way we look
Perhaps real innovation begins with changing the way we look.
If a company wants to take on a good person —motivated, innovative and able to recognise other people’s strengths— it should ask itself whether its own selection process reflects those values. Is it looking for people who think or people who repeat? Is it looking for real abilities or a career path that feels familiar? Is it willing to review its own ideas about what it means to be a good professional?
Because talent does not always arrive in the shape we expect. Sometimes it appears in someone who has followed a different path, who has had to reinvent themselves, who comes from another sector or who has developed skills outside the most conventional career routes.
Recognising that potential takes judgement, yes, but also curiosity, listening and the ability to review first impressions.
And this responsibility does not lie only with the interviewer. As candidates, we also need to know ourselves, identify our strengths, recognise our limits and decide what kind of environment allows us to work in a healthy and responsible way.
Selection is more valuable when it stops being a performance in which one side tries to impress the other and becomes a professional conversation between two parties who have something to offer each other and something to discover.
I welcome the fact that companies are looking for people who are motivated, innovative, open and able to strengthen other people’s strengths. These are valuable and necessary qualities. But I would like that reflection to be completed with another one: is the company ready to recognise, respect and develop the person it is looking for?
Because it is easy to ask for an open mind; what is hard is listening to an idea that questions our habits. It is easy to say we value people; what is hard is doing it when someone does not fit our preconceived image of the ideal candidate. It is easy to talk about strengths; what is hard is discovering them when they do not yet come with a long list of achievements.
And it is easy to assess the person in front of us. What is really demanding is accepting that we are being assessed too.
A job interview should not end only with the question of whether the company thinks we are right for it. It should also leave us with enough information to think about whether we can grow there, really contribute and work in conditions that are consistent with our values.
Perhaps we cannot always choose as much as we would like. But we can remember that a job opportunity is still a relationship between people and that, in that relationship, respect, trust and the ability to recognise the other person’s worth should not work in one direction only.
Because it is not just about finding a company that wants to hire you. It is about finding a company where you also want to work, without having to give up your judgement, your dignity or the chance to keep growing.
And you: when you go to a job interview, do you only ask yourself whether you are the right person for the company, or also whether that company is right for you?